1986 - The 5th congress of the Communist Party of Sweden is inaugurated. During the course of the congress the party name is changed to the Solidarity Party and the party ceases to be a communist party.

1867 - Louis Winslow Austin was born (d. 27 Jun 1932). American physicist known for research on long-range radio transmissions. In 1904 he began work on radio transmissions for the U.S. Bureau of Standards.

1895 - Gerhard Domagk was born (d. 24 Apr 1964). German bacteriologist and pathologist who was awarded the 1939 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his discovery (announced in 1932) of the antibacterial effects of Prontosil, the first of the sulfonamide drugs.

1895 - Dickinson W. Richards was born (d. 23 Feb 1973). American physiologist who was one of three who shared the 1956 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries concerning heart catheterization and pathological changes in the circulatory system".

1900 - Ragnar Granit was born (d. 1991). Finnish-born Swedish physiologist who was a corecipient (with George Wald and Haldan Hartline) of the 1967 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his analysis of the internal electrical changes that take place when the eye is exposed to light.

1906 - Giuseppe Farina was born (d. 1966). Italian race car driver who was the first F1 World Champion.

1907 - Sol Tax was born (d. 4 Jan 1995). American cultural anthropologist, founder of the Current Anthropology journal and initiator of the Fox Project, a study of the culture of the Fox and Sauk Indians.

1908 - Patsy Montana was born. American country music singer and songwriter.

1928 - Daniel Nathans was born (d. 1999). American microbiologist, corecipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1978 (with American Hamilton Othanel Smith and Swiss scientist Werner Arber).

1961 - Because of "violations of Lenin's precepts", it is decreed that Josef Stalin's body be removed from its place of honour inside Lenin's tomb and buried near the Kremlin wall with a plain granite marker instead.

1965 - Vietnam War: Just miles from Da Nang, United States Marines repel an intense attack by wave after wave of Viet Cong forces, killing 56 guerrillas. Among the dead, a sketch of Marine positions was found on the body of a 13-year-old Vietnamese boy who sold drinks to the Marines the day before.

1995 - Over 80 people, including former U.S. Rep. Jim Jontz, arrested at Sugarloaf Mountain in southern Oregon during a massive direct action to prevent corporate clear cutting of old growth forests on public land.

1995 - Quebec sovereignists narrowly lose a referendum for a mandate to negotiate independence from Canada (vote was 50.6% to 49.4%).